Hovnanian swings to a loss in fourth quarter

The company reported a loss of $30 million for the quarter ended Oct. 31, a drastic swing from last year’s income of $136.3 million. Total revenues for the fourth quarter were $1.4 billion, down 20.3 percent from last year’s revenues of $1.6 billion for the same quarter.

For the year, the company reported a total loss of $20.9 million, down from last year's income of $575.9 million. Sales were $4.8 billion, down 21.9 percent from last year’s sales of $6.2 billion.

The company reported it delivered 13,564 homes for the year, down 24.4 percent from last year's deliveries of 17,940.

"Our industry is currently experiencing a cyclical correction," said Ara Hovnanian, president and CEO. "However, after a very slow period for new sales contracts in October and November, we have experienced an improvement in sales pace during the first three weeks of December. This is encouraging given that December is historically a slower sales month."

Hovnanian is one of the nation's largest home builders with operations in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.